Alibaba and Tencent kick off cashless payment promotions

China’s two biggest mobile payment providers are going head to head this week, providing lavish incentives to attract users as they try to promote the concept of a cashless society.

Alipay, the world’s largest mobile payment platform affiliated with Alibaba Group, owner of the South China Morning Post, is offering cash rebates of up to 4,888 yuan for the use of its mobile app to make payments between August 1 and 8, as well as the chance to own a share in 18.888 kg of gold with other users.

For the first three days of the promotion, residents in Hangzhou and Wuhan, the first two Chinese cities identified by Alipay as models for the cashless society notion, will also be able to take buses free of charge up to 12 times by scanning the app.

Those who use it to pay for their bus rides for the whole week of the promotion will be eligible for lucky draws for red packages containing cash worth between 8.8 yuan and 888 yuan.

Meanwhile, rival Tencent’s WeChat Pay is offering its own cashless promotions during the same period.

The number of offline merchants participating in Tencent’s “cashless day” promotion reached 700,000 in 2016, up 80,000 from its inception the previous year, according to the company.